My story

　　Lyle is a playful, spunky dog looking for his furever home. Hes a handsome 3 year old Heeler mix who is about 55 lbs. While Lyle is a sweet and silly dog, he has triggers such as fear and pain that can cause him to become defensively aggressive. Since he has dog reactivity and bite reports on his records, he needs to go to a home with someone who either has professional training or extensive experience with dogs who have behavioral issues. With the right environment and training, Lyle will flourish as the loving energetic companion he is meant to be!From his owner:Lyle is the light of my life. While it pains me to rehome him, I have accepted that I am not capable of rehabilitating him through behavior issues that some rescue dogs unfortunately come with. I want nothing more than to find him a great owner who can work him him to ensure a long, safe, healthy life where he cant get in trouble.Like most heelers, Lyle is extremely intelligent and physically active. We start every day with a run, between 1-5 miles long. Without a run, he will be nonstop begging you to play or go outside. He might not need as many runs if he lives somewhere with property, as we live in an apartment without a yard currently. Once we have gotten some good exercise in, he will nap or watch out the window for most of the day. Throughout the day we play with interactive toys, go on small walks, and play fetch. Hes great at fetch except he never wants to give the toy up (weve been working at it but I think hes just learned that if he wont give me the toy, he can trade it for a treat in stead..clever booger).In addition to being a great running partner, Lyle also loves hiking and backpacking. Hes gone on countless hikes and several week long back packing trips. I do keep him on leash for all hikes due to his dog reactivity. He always carries his own food and even some of moms when backpacking!Now that you know some of Lyles amazing attributes, its time we cover some of the bad. First, his dog reactivity. Lyle does not like meeting dogs he doesnt know, especially head on. Weve been practicing heeling and sitting while other dogs on walks pass by, but he still needs some work. The good side of this though, is that he does love other dogs when introduced properly. I introduce him to new friends by walking them with some distance between them (you need a friend to help with this obviously), and slowly closing the gap. Eventually you will be walking side by side with no issues! Lyle even loves to play and rough house off leash with furry friends. One time I house sat/pet sat a home with a pit bull larger than him and they could play unattended for hours accident free. I have also fostered many dogs and puppies successfully with him. He may never be a dog park dog, but he can definitely live somewhere with another dog if proper steps are taken to introduce them. I would not recommend a house with 2 or more dogs already.As far as cats go, he likes to chase them but has never injured one so thats a bit iffy. He does have a prey drive but we have worked on impulse control a ton and I have seen significant improvements. Now on to the biggest challenge. As previously mentioned, Lyle has bite reports. Three to be specific. In each case, he was frightened, aggravated, or injured. He isnt consistently aggressive, it definitely has to be triggered and is purely defensive. But he needs someone with more experience than I to teach him that biting is not okay, even when uncomfortable. He needs someone who has time to work with him and can be a responsible owner. We have started on muzzle training. He still tries to get it off, but will tolerate it if we are actively doing something to distract him. He hasnt shown any sign of resource guarding towards humans or other dogs.Id like to end this on a positive note and describe his adorable quirks and his tricks.Lyle knows sit, stay, drop it (not with toys, but he will drop something hes not supposed to have), lay down, play dead, roll over, sit pretty, legs, and shake with either paw. True to his breed, he doesnt like cuddling but will cuddle if you are petting him. Once you stop petting, he likes to lay down close to you. He even sleeps at the foot of my bed every night. When we wake up in the morning, Lyle will crawl up close to me and roll over for belly rubs, he loves belly rubs! Lyle will bark at people at the door, but as soon as I open the door he wants nothing but to love on and play with anyone and everyone, even men. Sometimes when he has a toy, Lyle will play by himself and just do the silliest things! He will play fetch with himself, or my favorite - he will roll over on his back and hold a toy with his two front paws while he chews it. Its so goofy and awkward!Lyle is a great dog with some bad habits at the end of the day. He needs someone with training experience to work with him so that he can reach his full potential. Please email Chloe at [email protected] if you have any questions. Thanks!Included: A basket of toys, collars, leash, 2 harnesses, 2 muzzles, a backpack, and whatever treats/food we have at time of adoption.Breed and size disclosure: As a rescue all of our dogs come to us from high-kill shelters or other rescues, so we do not get a lot of background or information on these dogs. We occasionally receive the mother with the puppies, but in most cases both parents are unknown. Because of this we do not know the full breeding of the dogs. We are required to list the dogs based on the breeds provided to us on their records, but they are all mixed breeds as far as we know, and we cannot guarantee the actual breeds of any of these dogs. Since the full breeding of the dogs is unknown we can also only give you an educated guess on the full-grown size of the dogs. All of the current information we have on the dogs is listed in their bio above. More information may be available at our adoption event, since a lot of the fosters turn in report cards on how the dog has done in their care when they drop them off. Adoption Process: If you are interested in adopting from us, the first step of our adoption process is to fill out an application online at http://aaanimalrescue.org/adoption_app.html. It takes us 24-48 hours to process your application and get back to you, via email. Applications turned in Friday afternoon or Saturday morning will not be processed since we are preparing for or at our adoption event. We do have applications on site at our events, but are not always able to approve them at that time and many of the dogs will already have holds on them, so we suggest you fill out an application prior to attending an adoption event. We can place a hold on one dog per approved applicant after a deposit fee has been received, please do not ask to hold a dog if you have not turned in an application and been approved, for the first hour of our adoption event, so that they can get the first chance to meet and hopefully adopt that dog. After the first hour of the event all dogs are available on a first come, first serve basis. If you already have an approved application on file, there will just be more paperwork and the adoption fee at the event, but you will be able to take home the dog/puppy that day. Since we are foster based and do not have a location, our dogs are only available to meet at our events, unless otherwise noted.